Press Conference, 8 June 2007

Meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Visit to Japan by Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of Palestinian Legislative Council Dr. Ziad Mahmoud Abu-Amr
Meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Artis Pabriks
Follow-up questions concerning the meeting between Prime Minister Abe and Russian President Putin
Questions concerning security at the G8 Summit in Heilingendamm

I. Meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon and thank you very much for coming. Assuming you have heard and learned more than enough on the ongoing G8 Summit meetings, what I think is in order is to brief you on the bilateral meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Abe that took place yesterday, Thursday, 7 June, in Heiligendamm, the Federal Republic of Germany.

The 35-minute meeting was rich in content if not in length. The points discussed and reviewed include: number one, furthering the political dialogue that has gained intensity of late; number two, to continue negotiating in order for both sides to ultimately solve the territorial issue so that the two nations can forge a peace treaty; number three, Prime Minister Abe's newly introduced initiative to strengthen the Japan-Russia cooperation in the Far East and Eastern Siberian area of Russia, which President Putin welcomed and agreed on; number four, youth exchanges that ought to be much more promoted; number five, fishery; and number six, on a Russo-Japan joint project in the private sector to create a movie, entitled "Nina on the Battlefield," which is based on a Rei Nakanishi novel and being shot in a Russian city, Yekaterinburg.

Of note also is that both President Putin and Prime Minister Abe agreed that they will have a bilateral again in September on the sidelines of the APEC Sydney Summit Meeting, and scheduled also later this year are the visits of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Yevgenyevich Naryshkin who is in charge of external economic affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, and Chairman of the Russian Federal Service for Control of Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Circulation Victor Vasilyevich Cherkesov to Tokyo.

In return, Mr. Muneharu Ohtsuka, Commissioner of the Board of Audit of Japan, and Mr. Hiroki Ishikawa, Commandant of Japan Coast Guard (JCG) are going to visit Russia sometime later this year.

II. Visit to Japan by Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of Palestinian Legislative Council Dr. Ziad Mahmoud Abu-Amr

Mr. Taniguchi: Next, let me tell you that from the Palestinian Authority, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Dr. Ziad Mahmoud Abu-Amr will visit Japan from Monday, 11 June to Wednesday, 13 June at the invitation of the Government of Japan. He will come to attend the Fourth Japan-Palestinian Ministerial Consultation Meeting, which has been set in place since May 2000 at the initiative of the Japanese Government. He will address the Middle East Institute of Japan on 13 June at the Foreign Press Center, to be followed by a press conference at the Japan National Press Club.

III. Meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Artis Pabriks

Mr. Taniguchi: Third and last, when Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso met yesterday, Thursday, 7 June, with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Dr. Artis Pabriks, the Latvian Foreign Minister suggested that a regular consultation framework should be set up, involving the three nations in the Baltic region and Japan. This being a proposal, in Foreign Minister Aso's words, very much in line with Japan's initiative to create the Arc of Freedom and Prosperity, Foreign Minister agreed with Dr. Pabriks, and the two Foreign Ministers decided to have in due course a Baltic Three Plus Japan Foreign Ministerial Meeting.

Related Information (Press Release)

IV. Follow-up questions concerning the meeting between Prime Minister Abe and Russian President Putin

Q: How does the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimate the results of the Putin-Abe summit?

Mr. Taniguchi: As I have indicated already, that was rich in content, although it was a rather short meeting, a 35-minute meeting, but if you look at the areas that the two leaders covered, I think that was very rich and productive, so Prime Minister Abe was very satisfied with the results

Q: Could this be called a kind of a "next step" in Russian-Japanese relations?

Mr. Taniguchi: I am not sure if I can call it a "next step" yet. I can tell you that the bilateral relationship is set in motion and proceeding in a positive direction. If you look at the initiative that Prime Minister Abe revealed to President Putin, that covers a wide array of areas, like energy cooperation, and cooperation also in the information and technology fields. The initiative also talked of a possibility of cooperation between the two nations to develop the ground transportation that connects the far eastern part of the Eurasian landmass with the western part. It is telling that Prime Minister Abe made this known when he met President Putin.

Q: During the Abe-Putin talks, was there any mention of a possible visit by Prime Minister Abe to Russia?

Mr. Taniguchi: It was not specified as such.

Q: Can you specify what the two leaders were talking about concerning the territory issue? What points were discussed? Were recent events concerning this issue discussed between the two leaders?

The second question is concerning the Russian-Japanese cooperation in development of Russia's Siberia and far eastern regions. Are some specific projects already being prepared, or is it only the intention of the two countries?

Mr. Taniguchi: First of all, on the territorial issue, Prime Minister Abe said something like the following. "Both nations should not postpone discussing the territorial issue, nor try to shelve the issue. Rather, this issue in particular has to be solved ultimately in one way or another, and both nations ought to accelerate the pace of negotiations for that purpose."

That is what Prime Minister Abe told President Putin, and in return President Putin said something like, "All kinds of obstacles that could impede the bilateral relationship from advancing should be removed, and I would like to make an order to the members of my government that the peace treaty negotiation process should not be delayed; it should be accelerated."

Those are the words exchanged between the two leaders. On the initiative that Prime Minister Abe proposed to President Putin, some activities are already going on, but most of the points that this initiative covers are future projects. If I could be a little bit more specific, when it comes to the security area, the maritime security has already been addressed by the two coast guards of Russia and Japan. You may recall that in that context the Commandant of the JCG, Mr. Ishikawa, is scheduled to visit Russia sometime later this year, and cooperation between the two nations on drug trafficking, smuggling of small weapons, and so on, is also underway.

Other points touch on such important matters as collaborating between Japan and Russia to help ameliorate the bad medical condition and situation in the far eastern Siberian region. As I said briefly, the initiative also mentions a possibility for the joint development of optic fiber cable that could connect East Asia with Europe. I have talked also on transportation and energy. The initiative also obviously touches on the area of collaboration for enhancing bilateral trade and investment.

Lastly, the initiative is divided into eight parts, and number eight addresses the possibility of promoting exchanges between municipalities in both nations. For instance, the cities facing the Japan Sea can communicate much more frequently with their counterparts in Russia. Already a number of cities that are on the coast of the Japan Sea have established sister-city relationships with Russian cities, but that sort of exchange should be promoted yet further. Those are the points that the initiative addressed.

Q: Were some international issues discussed, for example the North Korea issue or the Iraq issue?

Mr. Taniguchi: Let's see. The answer is no, not because they were not interested in such issues, but because in order to save time they focused their attention on strictly bilateral issues.

Q: As for the future visits of several high-ranking Russian Government officials, when can it be done?

Mr. Taniguchi: At the moment I can only say sometime later this year. As far as the Deputy Prime Minister Naryshkin is concerned, they say specifically that it should occur by the fall this year, which suggests that it will take place by October, November, that period. Also they said that Foreign Minister Lavrov should visit Japan again within this year. That is a broad timeframe.

V. Questions concerning security at the G8 Summit in Heilingendamm

Q: One more question about security measures during the summit. There were many demos, and so even Prime Minister Abe's wife had to cancel her visit to a neighboring city. How do you estimate the security measures taken by the local government?

Mr. Taniguchi: I think it is going to be a very serious issue, and I would imagine that the members of the Japanese police force were very much awed and shocked by the scale of the people who rallied against the G8 Summit Meeting. But this has become an inherent ingredient whenever summit meetings of this nature take place ever since there was a massive rally against the Seattle WTO (World Trade Organization) meeting. I think we should be better prepared in order for the summit meeting to take place in a little bit more peaceful fashion.

Q: Were there any other troubles because of these rallies?

Mr. Taniguchi: At the moment, not that I know of.

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